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Finished reading it, is alright. Lot of historical tidbits condensed rapidly together. Seemed to be loosely scripted a-la Dan Brown, but I did not mind it as content was very Indic.

If it was his first piece of work, I would say it was a very good effort; but this is his third book. Author would have benefited by getting it professionally edited instead of relying on family and friends.

Finished reading it, is alright. Lot of historical tidbits condensed rapidly together. Seemed to be loosely scripted a-la Dan Brown, but I did not mind it as content was very Indic. If it was his first piece of work, I would say it was a very good effort; but this is his third book. Author would have benefited by getting it professionally edited instead of relying on family and friends.I would say - read it.

[quote]Rather than periodically bemoan the rise of Evangelical Activity with Foreign Money and lament the spread of Islamist Radicalism perhaps it is time that the Sangh debated the issue on what it will take to free up Hindu temples so Hindu Temple Wealth can be put to purposes of Hindu Choice.....Perhaps it is time the Sangh as a movement took up the cause of freeing countless Hindu Temples rather than expend all of its energies on the one intractable Ram Mandir which may very well end up meeting the same fate as the Bankey Bihari Mandir as yet another sarkaari Mandir./quote]

With the Paris climate summit now in full swing, details about the final agreement that will define the trajectory of the world economy and the planet’s atmosphere are slowly beginning to emerge. And a single country—India—may hold more sway over what that final deal will look like than any other.Though the world’s island nations and other extremely vulnerable countries have the most to lose from unchecked global warming, India’s not far behind. Earlier this year, India suffered one of the worst heat waves in world history—hot enough to melt the pavement at one intersection in New Delhi. Back-to-back failures of the critical monsoon rains—the most important weather event in the world—have crippled the country’s vast rural economy. Forecasters are calling for another weak monsoon in 2016, due to the current record-breaking El Niño in the Pacific.At the same time, India is on pace to triple its CO2 emissions over the next 15 years, passing the United States as the world’s second-largest emitter (behind China) by 2030. Yet one-quarter of the country’s vast population—the equivalent of everyone living in the United States—still has no access to electricity at all.To ensure it’s able to provide basic services to more of its citizens, India is rapidly expanding its coal sector and has made no firm pledge of when it aims to peak emissions, but the U.S. still burns five times as much coal as India on a per-person basis. That juxtaposition—as both a victim and driver of climate change—gives India a great deal of negotiating power in Paris. While it may seem that India is trying to have it both ways, the country is a nearly ideal representative to speak on the entire planet’s behalf.Though much attention has been given to the key role of the emerging U.S.-China alliance on climate change, it’s the Indian prime minster who has stolen the show so far in Paris. On the summit’s opening day, Narendra Modi appeared with French President François Hollande to announce an initiative that could mobilize as much as $1 trillion for renewable energy investment in poor countries by 2030. Modi also joined Bill Gates and Barack Obama to announce a momentous surge in funding for basic energy research over the next five years. On the same day, the New York Times ran an article saying that Modi’s actions could make or break Obama’s climate change legacy. And that’s true.Of course, one of the sticking points in Paris is where that kind of money will come from. On Wednesday, Ajay Mathur, one of India’s lead negotiators, made a shrewd and brilliant pledge: We’ll cut back on our coal use if the rest of the world helps fund our transition to renewables. The lead U.S. negotiator, Todd Stern, joined activist groups in welcoming the comments as productive.And now, heavy rains in southern India over the last several days have created a new disaster and urgency in the Indian delegation in Paris. The country’s fourth-largest city, Chennai, has been virtually isolated by floodwaters, placing the nation’s military on a “war footing” in its response and prompting stunning acts of heroism to rescue survivors. Chennai, a city of 4.4 million, received 34 times its normal rainfall on Wednesday alone—so disruptive that its daily newspaper was not published for the first time since 1878 because its staff could not reach the press. The rains are expected to continue throughout early December. India’s chief meteorologist has said the recent extreme weather events “fit the larger picture of climate change.” Modi has publicly backed the climate linkage.Because of disasters like these, India joins the sinking island nations on the moral high ground. Modi’s address to world leaders on Monday included frequent mention of “climate justice”: After wealthy Western countries like the U.S. and Germany have dominated the global economy (and carbon emissions) for hundreds of years, why should the burden to clean up the atmosphere fall to poorer—but quickly growing—economies like India? Yet, in many ways, India is becoming a clean-energy leader all the same. We could only be so lucky to see India run the show for the rest of the Paris summit.

Varoon Shekhar wrote:The Irish music band U2 is doing a concert in Paris, in honour of the victims of terrorism in Paris and San Bernardino.

Does anyone remember any rock group, doing a tribute to the Mumbai victims or Delhi victims, or for that matter, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad?

Why is India so off people's scanners? What the hell is the matter?

Even the excuse that Paris is closer to Dublin, Ireland, dubious as the reasoning is, doesn't wash. San Bernardino is farther away from Ireland, than Mumbai.

Before you go around crying racism and what not- who will respect those who dont respect themselves ? When Indians themselves go around the world abusing their country as "intolerent" and "discriminatory to Muslims", why will foreigners stick up for your people ?

So many foreigners believe Hindus have been killing & discriminate Muslims & Christians randomly based on articles written by Indian authors and movies - inexplicably appreciated widely by dimwit Indians themselves.

All the hardwork done by Indian IT professionals and even hardworking blue collar workers - who put up with racism and yet served their host societies diligently since 90s to earn a good name for their community - silently being undone by Indian media & bollywood propagandists.

But that shouldn't prevent people the world over from using their noggins, not to mention their hearts, where India is concerned. I don't recall any music band intending to perform a concert in India( or anywhere) on behalf of the Mumbai victims. Whether it went through or not, would have been up to the host country. Where was the expression of intent, in the first place? Surely, U2 et al are not thinking "Hmmmmm, that's a complex local issue involving the Shiv Sena, the VHP and the Moslems, with killings on both sides, so we won't do a tribute"

For some reason, not enough people are moved by terror attacks against India. It's both laziness and callousness.

Indian Muslim orthodoxy's response to demands of modernity: Can Muslims co-exist with other religious communities in plural societies?

What kind of reform does modernity demand from the orthodoxy? Essentially, it asks Muslims to come out of the insidious trap of supremacism, the dream of making Islam the sole religion of the world, ruling over the world through an Islamic caliph. It demands that Muslims coexist with other religious communities, respect other religions and cultures, grant equal rights to all citizens, practice gender equality and justice for all, in short, follow the UN human rights charter, etc. Each one of these goals is supported by the foundational scripture of Islam, the Holy Quran, if only we Muslims were to go by the Qur'anic dictum of finding the best meaning of Qur'anic verses (as exhorted in Chapter 39: verse 55, 39: 18; 39: 55; 38: 29; 2: 121; 47: 24, etc). They would also do well to follow the recent advise of His Holiness Pope Francis to find an "adequate interpretation" of the Qur'anic verses. So the Quran and Pope Francis are both saying that Muslims should not follow the verses literally but seek to interpret it in the best or most adequate way possible.Under Salafism's widespread impact, contemporary Indian Islam presents a rather dismal picture. There is an almost complete stagnation in conversation on issues of vital concern. The very mention of religion or theology in the context of Islamist terrorism, for instance, is frowned upon. Muslim societies around the world are producing armies of Islamist, Jihadi, suicide bombers wherever required by motivated groups, while suicide is considered one of the most heinous crimes in Islam. But Indian ulema are almost completely silent. This silence became deafening when the self-declared Khalifa al-Baghdadi said on 13 May 2015 that "Islam has never been a religion of peace, not even for a day, and that it has always been a religion of war." Not one alim (scholar) in India protested or condemned it.Indian Muslim clerics or even intelligentsia do not seem bothered by such studies. An argument is made, even by our strategic thinkers, that no Indian Muslims joined al-Qaeda and few have gone to fight for ISIS, and so it can be concluded that Indian Islam is immune to the lure of Jihadism. But joining ISIS cannot be the measure of the extent of radicalisation. If anything, Indian Muslim society is even more conservative or fundamentalist than say, neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Before Partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947, Indian Muslim community had an iniquitous Muslim personal law, promulgated by the British. Thirteen years after Partition Pakistan reformed these Anglo-Mohammedan laws to make them more gender equitable. Promulgated by Gen. Ayyub Khan in 1961, these reforms are working in Pakistan and Bangladesh for half a century, acceptable to all schools of thought. But no government in India has had the guts to bring about similar changes in India's Muslim Personal Law due to determined opposition from our fundamentalist ulema, silently supported by the Muslim intelligentsia. Indeed, if anything, these laws have been made more stringent and iniquitous.A recent study indicates that 92.1 percent of Muslim women in India want a total ban on instant oral divorce, also known as triple talaq. But our governments are unable to do even this much, while Pakistani and Bangladeshi laws ensure that divorce is effective only after it has been approved by the court, marriages and divorces are registered, permission is sought from the court for second and subsequent marriage(s), etc. Our courts have tried to intervene and provide justice to Muslim women on the premise that Islam is a religion of compassion, but our scholars reject that proposition, just as they reject the proposition that Islam is a religion of peace by remaining silent when self-declared Khalifa Baghdadi says that Islam is a religion of war and strife.

Some fatwas do occasionally come making a general claim that Islam is a religion of peace, which, of course, it is. But the ulema's claim is absolutely suspect and hypocritical in the absence of any disavowal of the theology of violence, supremacism, exclusivism and xenophobia on the basis of which terrorism is pursued. Is it any wonder that the country is faced today with an unprecedented challenge. Radicalisation among Muslim youth is deepening by the day. Faced with a fierce onslaught of Wahhabi-Salafi-Ahl-e-Hadeesi campaign of what they call real, true, pure Islam, many Muslims, particularly educated youth are succumbing to the lure. While hundreds of Salafi-Jihadi websites, blogs, television channels, newspapers, magazines, etc promote an extremist interpretation of Islam, there is hardly any counter-narrative other than on New Age Islam that consistently, systematically refutes this ideology.

The reason for the Jihadi ideology's success in attracting Muslim youth is simple. For hundreds of years now, Muslim theologians have been engaged in creating a coherent theology of xenophobia and violence in order to expand the Islamic reach. Classical luminaries of Islam such as Imam Ghazali, Ibn-e-Taimiya, Sheikh Sarhandi, Abdul Wahhab, and Shah Wali Allah to 20th century theologians such as Syed Qutb, Hasan Al-Banna and Maulana Maududi have worked out a theology which promotes the view that Islam must conquer the world. Genuine Sufis like Mansour al-Hallaj and Ibn-e-Arabi had a very different view, and looked at Islam as a spiritual path to salvation. But, in their times, Sufis did not feel the need to evolve a coherent theology of peace and pluralism. The Sufis who did engage in theology focussed on making Islam more acceptable and respectable to orthodoxy. The greatest Sufi theologian Imam Ghazali (died: December 19, 1111), for instance, said that Muslims should go for Jihad at least once a year. He was quoting from and outlining Imam Shafi's legal tradition. Another Sufi who engaged in theology, Imam Ibn-e-Taimiyya (died: September 26, 1328), the inspiration behind Mohammad Abdul Wahhab's eighteenth century Salafi movement, actually became the original founder of modern violent extremism.

Let me give you a concrete example. Among the Indian ulema, the most important campaigner for moderate, peaceful Islam is Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. As a commentator on the Islamic website New Age Islam pointed out, in his book, “Islam – creator of the modern world," the Maulana says (on p.17-18), “It was God’s decree that he ( Prophet Muhammad) be a da’i (missionary) as well as ma’hi (eradicator). He was entrusted by God with the mission of not only proclaiming to the world that superstitious beliefs were based on falsehood, but also of resorting to military action, if the need arose, to eliminate that system for all time.” Then he goes on to buttress his view with a verse from the Holy Quran which in my view does not in any way support his conclusion. Then he quotes a Hadith, which he considers akin to revelation. He says: "One hadith in particular is quite direct in its wording, 'I am the eradicator through whom God will obliterate unbelief.' Thus the prophet was not just a dai, but also a mahi. He was the caller to the faith but he had also to compel people to answer his call. The Quran clearly states that besides human beings God's angels would also help him in accomplishing his mission." If this is the position of a moderate Indian Muslim cleric, justly renowned for his tireless efforts at building peace and pluralism, what is stopping Jihadis from saying that since that false system still exists, it is the duty of the Muslim Ummah to pursue Prophet Muhammad's unfinished mission and use military means to enforce what they consider to be the only correct system. Why should they not claim that God's angels are also with them, supporting their cause, as they were with the Prophet, since they are only carrying forward the Prophet's unfinished mission of eradicating superstition, idolatry, unbelief? ItThe response of moderate Muslim scholars, the ulema, representing the global Muslim community is no different. As many as 120 ulema from around the world belonging to most schools of thought sent an Open Letter to self-declared Khalifa Al-Baghdadi’, of the ‘Islamic State’ in August 2015. Written in over 14, 000 words, this is a valuable document. It shows what is wrong with self-styled Khalifa Baghdadi's rulings. But, more importantly, it also shows what is wrong with moderate Islam at the present juncture; why this refutation will not work, why other such refutations do not work; and why our children will keep running away to ISIS and other terror centres. In fact, read between the lines, this moderate fatwa does not leave any leg for moderate Islam to stand on. In one place it says:"... everything in the Qur’an is the Truth, and everything in authentic Hadith is Divinely inspired."This is confirmation from moderate ulema that what terrorist ideologues have been telling their pupils is correct. This is precisely the Jihadi argument. No difference between Quran and Hadees; they are both divinely inspired. All immutable, universal, eternal guidance for all time to come. Similarly on many other issues moderate ulema from around the world show their ideological compatibility with the terrorist ideologues.The same thread runs through the entire 14,000 word-fatwa. The moderate fatwa puts into question whether even the well-known Qur'anic verse (La Ikraha fid Deen: There is no compulsion in religion) has been abrogated. It accepts the basic premise of terrorist ideologues that peaceful Meccan verses revealed in Mecca have been abrogated, and it is the militant verses relating to war that should now prevail. In point 16 of the Open Letter. moderate ulema accept that "Hudud punishments (codified in Sharia) are fixed in the Qur’an and Hadith and are unquestionably obligatory in Islamic Law." Having accepted the basic premise of the Baghdadi tribe it goes on to criticise its cruel implementation in the so-called Islamic State. But once the ulema have accepted the basic premise of Hudud (Punishment) based on 7th century Bedouin tribal Arab mores being "unquestionably obligatory in Islamic Law" what difference does actually remain between moderation and extremism. Then in point 20, moderate ulema seem to be justifying the destruction of idols and are merely critical of destruction of "the graves of Prophets or Companions," of Prophet Mohammad.Many of us have been placing great hope in the ability of Sufi institutions to take us out of this quagmire of Islamism and growing radicalisation. But there has been a deep Wahhabisation of Indian Sufism too. Most Sufi shrines across the country are now practising gender segregation and discrimination. They have started issuing fatwas of apostasy against musicians like A R Rahman. Sufi literature has been gradually removed from Sufi madrasas and even replaced by literary books of Syed Qutb, the father of modern terrorism in the Middle East. They no longer teach books by Rumi, Ibn ul Arabi, Shaikh Saadi, Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, Baba Fareed, Ameer Khusro, etc. Even Sufism's basic spiritual philosophy, Wahdatul Wujood (unity of existence, advaita), has been practically replaced by Wahdatul Shuhud (unity of appearance, apparentism), to make it acceptable in the present Salafi-Wahhabi milieu and to distinguish Islam from Advaita Vedanta.The concept of Islam as a spiritual path is clearly giving way in India to the totalitarianism of political Islam.Essentially, Jihadism is a Muslim problem and Muslims must tackle it. But the societies in non-Muslim majority countries can help kick-start the debate. It must be understood that a madrasa graduate who has been brainwashed into believing, as most are, that "life begins in the grave," is a ticking time bomb that should be defused with the same urgency as other bombs are. A secular government should not allow anyone to spread the poison of intolerance and xenophobia either in mosques or in madrasas. A study of what is taught in Indian madrasas, and the content of sermons delivered in mosques, is urgently required. If found intolerant, supremacist, exclusivist and xenophobic, the ulema, madrasas and imams should be confronted with them and asked to change..

Australian newspaper cartoon depicting Indians eating solar panels attacked as racistCartoon in News Corp paper by veteran Bill Leak described by critic as ‘shocking ... and unequivocally racist, drawing on base stereotypes of third world people’The cartoon in the Australian, by Bill Leak, which has been accused of racism.Amanda Meade

Monday 14 December 2015 04.31 GMTA cartoon in the Australian depicting starving Indians chopping up and eating solar panels sent to the developing nation in an attempt to curb carbon emissions has been condemned as “unequivocally racist”.

Drawn by the veteran cartoonist Bill Leak, Monday’s cartoon was his response to the climate deal signed in Paris at the weekend. India is the world’s fourth-largest greenhouse emitter.

Amanda Wise, an associate professor of sociology at Macquarie University, said in her view the cartoon was shocking and would be unacceptable in the UK, the US or Canada.

“This cartoon is unequivocally racist and draws on very base stereotypes of third world, underdeveloped people who don’t know what to do with technology,” Wise told Guardian Australia.

“India is the technology centre of the world right now and has some of the most high-tech industries on the planet in that part of the world.

“The underlying message is that people in developing countries don’t need all these technologies to do with climate change – they need food.

“But actually it is people living in poverty that will suffer the most through food security, sea level rises, dropping of the water table.”

The editor of the Australian, Clive Mathieson, confirmed he edited Monday’s paper but declined to comment on the Leak cartoon.

The Australian’s long-serving editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell left the company last week and Paul Whittaker is installed as editor-in-chief, with Michelle Gunn staying on as editor of the Weekend Australian.

Wise said: “I don’t know too many places in the world where you would get away with that to be honest. In the UK and the US there would be an incredible outcry. It is appalling.

“This is really old imagery he has drawn on. Thin, starving people wearing turbans, who are so starving they are going to chop up solar panels. That is 1950s symbolism. We have moved on. The rest of the world has moved on.

“In Australia people from India are the second largest migrant group and they are coming here on skilled visas.”

I had always wondered as a kid, why didnt India make it a mission to wage war against Britain post gaining independence. Had visited Jallianwala baugh in my early teens. I just couldnt speak a word when at the baugh ...

Can't help but notice, that there are several reports of Indian or Indian origin doctors, who have been guilty of misconduct, fraud or negligence. In Canada this year alone, there have been 3, 2 for negligence, and 1 for sexual misconduct. In the US, there is one Indian doctor in Illinois, who has been accused of ordering needless or excessive operations. Another doctor has been charged with medicare fraud.

In past years in Canada, there have been stories of sexual misconduct and incompetence/malpractice. The numbers are significant enough to remark on. One particularly awful case, involved a Trinidadian Indian anesthesiologist who molested patients while they were under treatment. And there have been instances in the UK and Australia as well.

The vast majority of Indian and Indian origin doctors, needless to say, are competent, honest and morally above reproach.

But it does look like, to a casual observer at least, that there is a problem. Real or illusion?

usiness, indeed, is the principal business of Gujaratis. Everywhere, they are to be found running businesses, from corner-shops to hotels, from tech start-ups to some of the world’s largest conglomerates. Like the Jews, Chinese, English, Scots and Lebanese, they have come to form an impressive global commercial network. In proportion to their numbers (about 63m live in India, and there could be anything from 3m to 9m abroad), they could even claim to be the most successful. They bestride entire sectors of the global economy and have been at least partly responsible for the rise and fall of nations. Their influence on some advanced economies is now substantial.Consider America. Having arrived in numbers from the 1960s onwards, Gujaratis now run about a third of all its hotels and motels. Furthermore, this was achieved mostly by just one group, essentially an extended family, the Patels, who hail originally from a string of villages between the industrial cities of Baroda (or Vadodara) and Surat (see map). Like other South Asians, they highly value degrees in medicine and engineering. But they have the added knack of turning a degree into a business opportunity. Thus they own almost half (12,000) of America’s independent pharmacies (as well as one of the biggest chains in Britain, Day Lewis). There are thousands of Gujarati doctors in America, and they are quicker than most to start up their own practices. Bhupendra Patel, for instance, studied medicine in Baroda before coming to America in 1971. He set up a practice four years later, bought his own building in Queens, a borough of New York City, in 1978 and soon had 30 or so doctors working for him. His classmates were certainly impressed; out of 120 of his peers, 90 came to America in his wake.For many Gujaratis the point of acquiring knowledge is to attain practical goals, particularly business goals. The Gujarati word vediyo, meaning a person who studies the Vedas, the ancient Sanskrit texts that constitute the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, has come to mean a “learned fool”. Ethnic-Indian Americans have applied their practical knowledge to Silicon Valley; they are responsible for about a quarter of all startups there, and a quarter of those are thought to be Gujarati.Around the globe, they have come to wield huge influence in the diamond business. An impressive 90% of the world’s rough diamonds are cut and polished in the Gujarati city of Surat, a business worth about $13 billion a year, and Indians, predominantly Gujaratis, control almost three-quarters of Antwerp’s diamond industry. Like the motel owners, the great majority of diamond processors come from just one community, almost all of them tracing their origins back to one otherwise-obscure city in the north of Gujarat state called Palanpur.Unsurprisingly, given their success abroad, they have been at the forefront of India’s own recent economic surge, too. The three wealthiest Indian businesspeople—Mukesh Ambani, Dilip Shanghvi and Azim Premji—are Gujarati. With just 5% of India’s workforce, Gujarat produces 22% of the country’s exports. Reliance, one of India’s largest private conglomerates, is Gujarati-owned. The industrial centres of Ahmedabad and Surat dominate India’s synthetic textile sector. One of the world’s biggest denim factories is in Ahmedabad, which is also home to some of India’s pharmaceutical giants. All this has produced handsome revenues for the state’s coffers, and with it the sleek new roads that persuaded many Indians to vote for the former chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, as prime minister in 2014.

As the state of Gujarat accounts for about a fifth of India’s coastline, perhaps it was inevitable that its peoples should be merchants and travellers. Its position also helped: it is well-situated for the Persian Gulf and Africa, and routes to South-East Asia. Gujarati traders have been recorded on the African and Gulf littorals since before the tenth century, and extensive trade with the Arabs partly accounts for the strong Islamic influence on the state, which was founded as a modern administrative unit in 1960. It consists of three main regions: the Kutch, a largely arid, sparsely populated area now abutting the border with Pakistan; Saurashtra, the westernmost point; and central Gujarat to the east, the main industrial belt. The graceful dhows that bore most of the Gujarati trade are still built by hand at Mandvi, on the coast of Kutch.Under the influence of Muslim traders, and Persians invading from the north, many Hindus were converted to Islam. They now constitute the Muslim sects of the Bohras, Khojas and Memons. This was an important part of the development of a commercial ethos in Gujarat, as after conversion to Islam these communities were relieved of the Hindu restriction on “crossing the sea”. It was not until 1905 that religious leaders lifted the social penalties against this among the two leading Hindu business organisations. One Hindu group, the Patidars, many of whom have the family name Patel, had mostly been farmers, but as family landholdings were subdivided among the sons, many were pushed into trading in agricultural products such as tobacco instead.

The vast majority of Indian and Indian origin doctors, needless to say, are competent, honest and morally above reproach.

But it does look like, to a casual observer at least, that there is a problem. Real or illusion?

There are many Indian physicians who are a disgrace to the field of medicine. The pattern is persistent-qualifications from abroad, in it for the money. Zero communication skills. No concept of excellence.

Varoon Shekhar wrote:Can't help but notice, that there are several reports of Indian or Indian origin doctors, who have been guilty of misconduct, fraud or negligence. In Canada this year alone, there have been 3, 2 for negligence, and 1 for sexual misconduct. In the US, there is one Indian doctor in Illinois, who has been accused of ordering needless or excessive operations. Another doctor has been charged with medicare fraud.

In past years in Canada, there have been stories of sexual misconduct and incompetence/malpractice. The numbers are significant enough to remark on. One particularly awful case, involved a Trinidadian Indian anesthesiologist who molested patients while they were under treatment. And there have been instances in the UK and Australia as well.

The vast majority of Indian and Indian origin doctors, needless to say, are competent, honest and morally above reproach.

But it does look like, to a casual observer at least, that there is a problem. Real or illusion?

Each year medical malpractice lawyers bring an average of 911 cases against physicians, 20 of which patients win, 342 of which are settled out of court, and the rest of which are either won by doctors, abandoned by the plaintiff, or dismissed.

Need more stats on the cases involving Indian doctors. Most likely they are under-represented in malpractice in comparison to the Canadian average, in spite of constituting an estimated 7- 10% of the total Canadian doctor base.

The US has something like 14000 medical malpractice payouts every year...

sanjaykumar wrote:The vast majority of Indian and Indian origin doctors, needless to say, are competent, honest and morally above reproach.

But it does look like, to a casual observer at least, that there is a problem. Real or illusion?

There are many Indian physicians who are a disgrace to the field of medicine. The pattern is persistent-qualifications from abroad, in it for the money. Zero communication skills. No concept of excellence.

Very simple.

Agree, but it does seem that the North American media, or certain popular sections of it, highlight Indian doctors' abuses more. One does feel ashamed when reading stories, like from yesterday, about a 57 year old Indian-origin doctor in NY abusing children and even making kiddy ***** from his patients, presumably. Awful!

Each year medical malpractice lawyers bring an average of 911 cases against physicians, 20 of which patients win, 342 of which are settled out of court, and the rest of which are either won by doctors, abandoned by the plaintiff, or dismissed.

Need more stats on the cases involving Indian doctors. Most likely they are under-represented in malpractice in comparison to the Canadian average, in spite of constituting an estimated 7- 10% of the total Canadian doctor base.

The US has something like 14000 medical malpractice payouts every year...[/quote]

Yes, sections of the Canadian media, particularly the Toronto Star, really go at a few offending Indian doctors, and show their faces on the front cover or on the first page of their online edition. That gives the false impression that Indian/origin doctors are more likely to do something unethical or illegal. Those other malpractices often go unreported or underreported , unless it is something very major like Canada's tainted blood scandal.

One disgusting character deserved to be in the spotlight, a Trinidadian Indian doctor at North York General, George Doodnauth. He molested female patients while they were under anesthesia. Then there was the case, again highly publicised by the Toronto Star, not the other papers in town, of two Indian doctors who appeared to be serial abusers of women, that they had met in bars. And this while both of them were married.

That number 14000 in the US, would definitely involve a majority of non-Indians.

One and a half years after Narendra Modi became the head of India’s first unapologetically right-of-centre government, is there a rightist ecosystem beginning to develop in India? Could a broad coalition of different hues of liberal-conservative thinking be coming together into some kind of a right-wing rainbow?

The non-left space was occupied by two broad groups. One was the classical liberals and libertarians—believing in free markets, individual freedom, minimal government interference, whether in the economy or in social and cultural matters.

The other was the conservative-nationalistic group, whose economic ideology was more mercantilist and protectionist, which was socially orthodox, chauvinistically nationalistic and unabashedly majoritarian. This is largely the Hindu right

The divisions between the two right-wing groups was watertight, each uncomfortable with, and wary, of the other. What they had in common was a discomfort with the left,

Certainly, being right-of-centre is no longer something to be apologetic about. This started happening well before May 2014, but has definitely picked up pace since then. Earlier, because of the electoral successes of the left-of-centre groups, both the liberal-right and the conservatives were jeered at for not resonating with the masses. That more or less ceased with the stupendous success of Modi in the 2014 election, riding on a liberal economic agenda focusing on inclusiveness as well as the work done by the sangh parivar foot soldiers.

What was also striking was that a significant number of young BJP members—urbane, westernized men and women in their twenties and early thirties—were more akin to the liberal right. These were not the right-wing goons and bullies that often make it to the headlines. They wanted Modi to remain focused on economic reforms and not to encourage the social and cultural bigots in the larger sangh parivar. They toed the party line as disciplined members but in private conversations, it was evident that they would not eventually evolve into Hindutva hardliners, though they were ever ready to take on and demolish Congress/leftist arguments. In fact, they were actually dispirited that the Modi government has not yet been very successful in changing the discourse that had been set by the left.

Unfortunately, the wariness between the two right-wing groups has not disappeared entirely.

The liberal right’s willingness to work along with the conservative right has been put under strain by the latter’s confrontational stance on social and cultural issues. Many who belong to this group are not comfortable with the constant glorification of the civilizational heritage that the Hindu right indulges in, especially when it is in the form of wild claims, unsubstantiated by any evidence, about ancient Indians having invented flying machines and nuclear bombs.

The traditionalist right, for its part, feels the liberal right is being opportunistic, using Modi to push its own economic agenda (which it does not agree with) and sees the liberals as a westernized elitist bunch, rejecting its cultural and civilizational roots, and with limited value. The social liberalism that the liberal right advocates is something the traditional right just cannot reconcile with.

Both groups need to get over this mutual distrust and realise that they need to work more closely with each other.

The non-left space was occupied by two broad groups. One was the classical liberals and libertarians—believing in free markets, individual freedom, minimal government interference, whether in the economy or in social and cultural matters.

The other was the conservative-nationalistic group, whose economic ideology was more mercantilist and protectionist, which was socially orthodox, chauvinistically nationalistic and unabashedly majoritarian. This is largely the Hindu right

In GDF in the political christianity thread, I wrote- Libertariansim is 'dharmik thought' in the straight jacket of Christianity. The author is swarajya makes the mistake of assuming the so called conservative-nationalistic thought is different from libertarianism. Either the author does not understand libertarianism or she is muddled by the western memes on what RSS and its affiliates stand for.

There is no evidence (NONE WHATSOEVER) of conservative-nationalistic group being mercantilist-protectionist. It the political right in the west who preaches enterprise but practices protectionism. Now some may claim the failure to permit multi-brand retailing was the evidence of this protectionist mindset. But that is very wrong. Because it wished to give the few mega businesses in the west (who grew under the protection of the state) to piggy back on the residual Indian elite who derive their position, money and power from the favourable (read protectionist) policies employed by the British EIC and later by the British state, to foist the same policies which has impoverished the small businesses in the west.

The author also confuses her understanding of libertarianism by making a judgement on the social status of the non libertarian(!) Hindu right.

It was I think Lord Acton who believed the libertarianism was the only way to ensure the church and state power could be curtailed. And as people were forced to chooses between these 2 institutions, there was no real liberty. This explains the origin of the libertarian thought. It can not be applied to Indian thought process. Because unlike west, the open source nature of our economy and life is not constrained by the state nor the church.

Though there are many ill-effects of the jati system, it has at least two positives—resilience and social capital. It is one of the reasons that of all the civilizations that Islam encountered when they swept out of Arabia, the Hindu civilization is the only one they could not wipe out.

Though there are many ill-effects of the jati system, it has at least two positives—resilience and social capital. It is one of the reasons that of all the civilizations that Islam encountered when they swept out of Arabia, the Hindu civilization is the only one they could not wipe out.

On the contrary, without Jaathi faultlines, Muslim invaders wouldn't have had any success in a large populated country like India.

what was "jati" when Islamics invaded? can we be sure that it's definition hasn't changed in the long 1200 years of fighting Islam? can we be sure that it's definition and cross-"jati" movement was defined by the same rules always?

Arnab mincing no words and talks like a jingo , it's is definitely worth a watch. On a serious note, he makes good points about media narratives, and it is validated by the other BBC type panelists - they feel the mirchi being applied, despite some attempts at putting Arnab down with their usual pretentious attitudes ("I say so, so that's all there is to say"). Arnab though, refused to be a good ol' brown boy, and insists on speaking his mind.

None of the christian majority countries in the world have a national holiday for non christianity..Not one. Not in the US, not in the UK, none of the European countries, Not Australia… Not even the alleged liberal country of Canada. No nationwide holiday for Eid, the most important holiday for the world second largest religion of Islam. Not a single holiday for the third largest religion of Hinduism anywhere in the christian majority country. No Holidays for Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsies.. Nada..None! Christianity is the only religion that is recognized nationwide in all these supposedly “Egalitarian” countries.

Then there are the country of Turkey, Israel and Japan with their own share of christian minorities but they do not have a holiday for Dec 25th (christmas).

Why is it that the christian majority countries do not recognize other religions of the world? Should Indian christians demand that they get special treatment in India? Where is the reciprocity of respecting one another’s religion?

Isn’t it time non christians stand up and demand that they be respected? And these countries have a common decency to accord basic respect for others religion as much as christians demand from others?

"I had always wondered as a kid, why didnt India make it a mission to wage war against Britain post gaining independence. Had visited Jallianwala baugh in my early teens. I just couldnt speak a word when at the baugh ... "

Amritsar was bad enough, but the thing that the Brits cannot be forgiven for, is constantly using Indian soldiers as cannon fodder, in various wars and conflicts all over Asia and Europe. India should bring this issue up relentlessly. And it is only very recently, that they have officially acknowledged the immense sacrifices of Indians in those wars. Shameless slimeballs! What took them so long? There is an awful statistic that more Indians died liberating Belgium from the Nazis, than did native Belgians. There must be several remarkable, and distressing, facts like that one.

Video Worth watching for winnershttp://www.inktalks.com/discover/807/sr ... -obstaclesSeeing no obstaclesWhen Srikanth Bolla was born blind, villagers in his family’s agricultural community advised letting him die. Instead, his parents focused on his education. With the right support, Srikanth began breaking down every barrier put in his path, even graduating from one of the world’s top-ranked universities. Now an INK Fellow, Srikanth is applying his considerable grit and brainpower—not to mention his charm—to help differently abled individuals integrate into mainstream Indian society.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today chaired theCombined Commanders Conference on board INS Vikramaditya at Sea, off the coast of Kochi. This is the first time that the Combined Commanders Conference has been held on board an aircraft carrier.

We can never call ourselves a secure nation and a strong military power unless we develop domestic capabilities. This will also reduce capital costs and inventories. In addition, it will be a huge catalyst for industry, employment and economic growth in India. We will soon reform our procurement policies and process. And, our offsets policy will become a strategic tool for improving our capabilities in defence technologies. Defence technology will now be a national endeavour that taps the potential of all institutions in our country. Armed Forces will be crucial to the success of Make in India Mission. I am encouraged by your localization plans, especially in the capital intensive Navy and Air Force. We want to see clear targets and goals on domestic acquisition; more clarity on specifications; and, greater involvement of our forces in innovation, design and development, especially from those who wield the weapons in the field. Above all, we look to our Armed Forces to prepare for the future. And, it cannot be achieved by doing more of the same, or preparing perspective plans based on outdated doctrines and disconnected from financial realities. In the course of the past year, I have seen progress, but I also feel that our forces and our government need to do more to reform their beliefs, doctrines, objectives and strategies. We must define our aims and our instruments for the changing world. At a time when major powers are reducing their forces and rely more on technology, we are still constantly seeking to expand the size of our forces. Modernisation and expansion of forces at the same time is a difficult and unnecessary goal. We need forces that are agile, mobile and driven by technology, not just human valour. We need capabilities to win swift wars, for we will not have the luxury of long drawn battles. We must re-examine our assumptions that keep massive funds locked up in inventories. As our security horizons and responsibilities extend beyond our shores and borders, we must prepare our forces for range and mobility. We must fully incorporate the power of digital networks and space assets into our capabilities. Equally, we must be prepared to defend them, for they will be the first targets of our adversaries. And, networks must be seamless and integrated across agencies and forces, and are precise, clear and quick in response. We have been slow to reform the structures of our Armed Forces. We should shorten the tooth-to-tail ratio. And, we should promote jointness across every level of our Armed Forces. We wear different colours, but we serve the same cause and bear the same flag. Jointness at the top is a need that is long overdue. Senior military leaders must have experience of tri-service commands, experience in technology-driven environment and exposure to the full spectrum of challenges – from terrorism to strategic. We need military commanders who not only lead brilliantly in the field, but are also thought leaders who guide our forces and security systems into the future. We should learn from the experience of the others, but we must frame our systems and commands on our own genius. Our National Defence University will be a reality soon. We also need reforms in senior defence management. It is sad that many defence reform measures proposed in the past have not been implemented. This is an area of priority for me. We must also have a comprehensive strategy for external defence engagement, to develop our capabilities and fulfill our responsibilities to advance peace and stability, including in our extended maritime region. We have kept peace in the blue helmet of the UN. And, our forces can be messengers of peace and hope, for example, by taking medical ships to remote island nations, and building relations with other militaries. In conclusion, to transform our country, every institution must reform itself. Our nation will progress when we all move forward in step. nd, we expect you to lead from the front in expenditure reforms or in clean energy and energy efficiency. As you reform, we will do our best to meet your needs and keep you prepared. As our economy grows, we will be able to secure ourselves better. In turn, India pursues its dreams in the comfort that it is secure in your hands.

When he was born, neighbours in the village suggested that his parents smother him.It was better than the pain they would have to go through their lifetime, some said.He is a "useless" baby without eyes… being born blind is a sin, others added.

Twenty-three years later, Srikanth Bolla is standing tall living by his conviction that if the "world looks at me and says, 'Srikanth, you can do nothing,' I look back at the world and say 'I can do anything'."

He considers himself the luckiest man alive, not because he is now a millionaire, but because his uneducated parents, who earned Rs 20,000 a year, did not heed any of the 'advice' they received and raised him with love and affection.

"They are the richest people I know," says Srikanth.

What is it about stories like Srikanth's that so inspire and fill one with hope?

Could it be the multiple zeroes after a dollar sign or the belief that you and I can achieve similar success if we set our minds and hearts to it? Underdog success stories touch a raw nerve. After all, everyone faces adversity, they dream, and they work hard.

It is another matter that only a few cross the threshold of limits set by society.In Srikanth's case, it is his sheer tenacity that shines through the dark clouds of his misfortune.Being born blind was just one part of the story. He was also born poor. And you know what that means in a society like ours.In school, he was pushed to the back bench and not allowed to play.

The little village school had no way of knowing what inclusion meant.When he wanted to take up science after his class X, he was denied the option because of his disability.

All of 18, Srikanth not only fought the system but went on to become the first international blind student to be admitted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

As author Paulo Coelho says, "We warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know the Universe is conspiring in our favour, even though we may not understand how."

Today, Srikanth has four production plants, one each in Hubli (Karnataka) and Nizamabad (Telangana), and two in Hyderabad (Telangana). Another plant, which will be one hundred percent solar operated, is coming up in Sri City, an integrated business city in Andhra Pradesh, 55 kms from Chennai.

Angel investor Ravi Mantha, who met Srikanth about two years ago, was so impressed with his business acumen and vision for his company that he not only decided to mentor him but also invested in Srikanth's company.

"It was a small, tin-roof shack in an industrial area near Hyderabad. There were eight employees and three machines under the shed. I expected him to talk about how he wanted to make a social impact, but was surprised by the business clarity and technical knowhow in someone so young," Ravi says.

They are raising $2-million (around Rs 13 crores) in funding and have already raised Rs 9 crores.According to Ravi, his personal goal is to "take the company to IPO."

A vision to build a sustainable company with a workforce comprising 70 percent people with disability is no mean task.

"Srikanth's vision is inbuilt in the company. It is not just a lip service to CSR," adds Ravi.

"The isolation of differently-abled people starts at birth," Srikanth said in his first public speech on the INKTalks stage in Mumbai last month. According to him, "Compassion is a way of showing someone to live; to give someone an opportunity to thrive and make them rich. Richness does not come from money, it comes from happiness."

When Srikanth was growing up, his father, a farmer, would take him to the fields but the little boy couldn't be of any help.

His father then decided that he might as well study.

"In my parent's entrepreneurship model, I was a failure. In entrepreneurship, we have a lean business model where we evaluate an enterprise and say how quickly it fails."

Since the nearest school in his village was five kilometres away, he had to make his way there mostly on foot. He did this for two years."No one acknowledged my presence. I was put in the last bench. I could not participate in the PT class.That was the time in my life I thought I was the poorest child in the world. It was not because of lack of money but because of loneliness."

When his father realised that the child was not learning anything, he admitted Srikanth to a special needs school in Hyderabad.

The boy thrived in the compassion he was shown there. He not only learnt to play chess and cricket but excelled in them. He topped his class, even embracing an opportunity to work with late President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in the Lead India project.

But none of this mattered much because Srikanth was denied admission to the science stream in class XI.He cleared the Andhra Pradesh class X state board exams with over 90 percent marks, but the board said he could only take Arts subjects after that.

"Was it because I was born blind? No. I was made blind by the perceptions of the people." Having been denied the opportunity, Srikanth decided to fight for it.

"I sued the government and fought for six months. In the end, I got a government order that said I could take the science subjects but at my 'own risk'. "

Thus not 'risking' anything to chance, Srikanth did whatever he could to prove them wrong.

He got all the textbooks converted to audio books, worked day and night to complete the course and managed to secure 98 percent in the XII board exams.

Sometimes, life mimics a steeplechase. Especially when it comes to those it has big plans for.It did not give Srikanth enough time to bask in his victory when it threw another spanner in the works. He applied for IIT, BITSPilani, and other top engineering colleges, but did not get a hall ticket.Instead, "I got a letter saying 'you are blind, hence you are not allowed to apply for competitive exams.' If IIT did not want me, I did not want IIT either. How long can you fight?"

He chose his battles carefully and did his homework searching the Internet to find the best engineering programme for someone like himself. He applied to schools in the US and got into the top four -- MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon.

He went to MIT (with a scholarship) as the first international blind student in the school's history.It wasn't easy adjusting to life there, but by and by he started to do well.Towards the end of his bachelor's course when the 'what next' question came up, it brought him back to where he had started.

"Many questions bothered me. Why should a disabled child be pushed to the back row in the class? Why should the 10 percent of the disabled population of India be left out of the Indian economy?

Why can't they make a living like everyone else with dignity?"

He decided to give up the 'golden' opportunity in corporate America and came back to India in search of answers to his questions. He set up a support service platform to rehabilitate, nurture and integrate differently-abled people in society.

"We helped about 3000 students in acquiring an education and vocational rehabilitation. But then I thought what about their employment? So I built this company and now employ 150 differently-abled people."

Entrepreneur bravehearts like the warriors of Paulo Coelho always find one unflinching support, an anchor to keep them afloat. In Srikanth's case, it is his co-founder Swarnalatha.

"She was his special needs teacher in school. She has been his mentor and guide through all these years. She trains all the employees with disabilities at Bollant thereby creating a strong community where they feel valued," says Ravi, adding, "Srikanth is a true source of my inspiration. He is not only my young friend and protégé but is also my mentor who teaches me daily that anything is possible if you set your mind to it."

The boy who was born blind is today showing many the path to real happiness.

He says his three most important life lessons are: "Show compassion and make people rich. Include people in your life and remove loneliness, and lastly, do something good; it will come back to you."

An Eye opening article by B. Jeyamohan who is one of the most influential contemporary, Tamil and Malayalamc writer and literary critic from Nagercoil.

This is the translation of his article:

“Intolerance”

I learnt the meaning of “Power” when I visited Delhi in 1994 to receive my Sanskriti Samman award and stayed for two days in India International Centre. I did have some familiarities with Information and culture ministries. However, IIC is the place where “Power” is served on a gold plate.

IIC is located in a peaceful and luxurious bungalow with lawns, high class food and drinks, quietly moving waiters, the butter English spoken without the upper lip moving, lipsticked women gracefully adjusting their hair, the elegant welcome given to the inner circle members with signs and hugs without making any noise!

I have stayed in many star hotels later. But I have never seen anywhere the luxury and comfort of IIC.

IIC was established and funded by the Indian government as an independent body to promote arts and free thinking. If my memory serves me right, Dr. Karan Singh was also its head. I saw him in that evening.

I saw every intellectual that I had known through my reading of English language magazines. U R Ananthamurthy was staying there for almost four years almost as a permanent fixture. Girish Karnad was staying for a few days. Writers, journalists and thinkers such as Pritish Nandi, Makarant Parajpe, Shobha De were seen everywhere in the Centre.

It was true that I was overwhelmed that day. Arunmozhi (my wife) ran to Girish Karnad on spotting him and was thrilled to introduce herself to him. I was told that Nayantara Sehgal used to come there on daily basis to have a drink. I saw her that day too. I realized that the two other individuals who were given the award along with me, Rajdeep Sardesai and Anamika Haksar were regulars there.

They wear rough Kolkata kurtas and Kolhapuri chappals. Wear small glasses. Women in pure white hair and khadi saris. One of them, they said, was Kapila Vatsyayan. They said, Pupul Jayakar will also come. Wherever you turn, there were literary talks and art discussions.

That pomp kind of unnerved me. The ultra high intellectualism seen there somewhat alienated me. Venkat Swaminathan, who saw me the next day, immediately recognised my sense of discomfort. He said, “Hey, three fourth of this crowd is just a perfect horde of crows (the Tamil equivalent of psychophants). The snobs that make their living are draw their power by licking the boots of power centres. Most of them are mere power brokers. At best you may find one or two artists who you will really respect. And they can’t bear this atmosphere for too long and will just run away.

But these are the people who decide what is culture for this country. They can talk about every thing in the world for one hour in colourful English with the right number of jargons. But on the 61st minute, the colour will start fading. Actually they don’t know any thing in the real sense. Almost all are like the little boxes we find in attics which held hing a long time back”, said Venkat Swaminathan.

Everyone will have four or five trusts in the name of Service Organizations or Cultural Organizations. They will be flying from one conference to the other. Once given accommodation in a government bungalow, they can never be removed from there. In Delhi alone this crowd has illegally occupied about 5,000 bungalows. There is another Power Centre similar to this in Delhi which is called the JNU. It is the same story there too.

Can’t the government get rid of them?”, I asked. He said, “normally governments do not think in that line. Because this crowd has stuck itself from the time of Nehru. They support each other. Even if some IAS officials try, they will fall at the right feet and escape”.

“There is one more thing added to it” said Venkat Swaminathan. “Not only were these people just parasites, they also derive great power by showing themselves as progressive leftists. Did you notice it?”. I said “Yes” with an amazement.

They are known throughout the world through the numerous seminars they attend. They are highly networked. Journalists around the world seek their opinion on whatever happens in India. They are the people who gave a leftist mask to the Congress Government. If you look at it that way, the amount spent on them is quite low”, he said. They are the trolls sitting on the head of India and nobody can do anything to them. They decide what is art or culture or thought of India.

I have often been to IIC with my Malayalam journalist friends. For them, this is the place to pick rumours and convert them in to news. They know there are no secrets as the day wears out and the spirits rise higher and higher in the head.

But I can only pity those people who engage in to political debates based on the supposedly rare gems of wisdoms dished out by these “intellectuals” through the middle pages of English newspapers. These intellectuals never actually know the real politics. They just shout on the basis of the superfluous knowledge and stand points, with the prime space enable by the network. That’s all.

Long time back when I wrote about this Circle, I had mentioned that Barkha Dutt is none but a power broker, my own friends fought with me for degrading a “progressive fighter”. Fortunately for me, within a few days, the brokering she did with Tata leaked out through the Nira Radia tapes. (Incidentally, what happened to that case, does any body know?). But even those stark revelations could not bring down Barkha Dutt from her exalted pedestal even for a month. That is the kind of power they have.

But now, for the first time in the history of independent India someone has dared to touch this power circle. Warnings were circulated at the lower level for the last about 6 months. Last week the Culture Ministry decided to send a notice to them. This, perhaps, is the reason for these intellectuals to suddenly flare up against “intolerance”.

For example, painter Jatin Das, father of actress Nandita Das is occupying a large government bungalow at one of the premium locations in Delhi free of cost for many years. Government has sent an eviction notice to him. This is the real reason for Nandita Das strongly speaking about intolerance in television channels and writing in English newspapers (all diligently carried by the network).

Even for a man as strong Modi, I think he has touched a wrong nerve. These elements are too powerful. They can destroy India through the media worldwide. They can create a picture that rivers of blood are flowing in India. They can make businessmen around the world to halt. They can wreck the tourism industry. The truth is there is no other power centre like this in India. Tolerating them is unavoidable for India. And Modi’s intolerance of them is extremely dangerous – not only for him but for the country itself. ”

......Even for a man as strong Modi, I think he has touched a wrong nerve. These elements are too powerful. They can destroy India through the media worldwide. They can create a picture that rivers of blood are flowing in India. They can make businessmen around the world to halt. They can wreck the tourism industry. The truth is there is no other power centre like this in India. Tolerating them is unavoidable for India. And Modi’s intolerance of them is extremely dangerous – not only for him but for the country itself. ”

The idea that a few can spin a picture of the country that does not reflect facts on the ground is a nonsensical one. India is an open polity. Facts on the ground are clearly visible to people - from correspondents, diplomats and businessmen to ordinary people. When people find that their tightly held opinions is not accepted by others, they resort to conspiracy theories of a powerful clique poisoning the minds of everyone. History is replete with examples of this behavior.